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 april 2022 saw me reunited in-person (tears, hugs and booster shots!) with my fellow collaborators/ARTISTS of the director’s theatre/writer’s theatre at our artistic home: the london performance studios.

valerie mccann, joseph connolly, josef mohammed, laura schuller and myself performed ‘Death at five o’clock’  written and directed and set designed by than hussein clark, with assistant direction by andy mccredie, movement, vocal direction and production images by maya yoncali, with bespoke costumes and wigs by Adrian at Academy costumes, london.

About TDTWT:

“The Director’s Theatre Writer’s Theatre is an international ensemble of actors who work under the artistic direction of Than Hussein Clark. They have devised scripted performances together for the last seven years and performed large scale productions in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States, primarily within the confines of the contemporary art world. Their performances have taken place in museums, galleries, theatres, and various site specific locations. Their work draws on continental post-dramatic aesthetics, queer theory, Meyerhold, and Grotowski, however these modes of operation are applied to ‘classic’ narrative situations, drawn from melodrama, serials, and classic dramatic texts.”-London Performance Studios

as regina morti in ‘death at five o’clock’. images: maya yoncali

as regina morti in ‘death at five o’clock’. image: maya yoncali

in rehearsal for ‘Death at five o’clock- photo: maya yoncali.

The Jungle.

I had the privilege to perform in the internationally acclaimed production of ‘The Jungle‘ earlier this year. Written by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson, Directed by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin. It was a life-shifting, shattering, heart-exploding show and experience.

After a magnificent run at Cal Shakes, I say goodbye to this epic new adaptation by Eric Ting and Philippa Kelly, and with it, my first as an equity actor.

More info here:

CURRENT/UPCOMING PROJECTS | NEWS

Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. -Crowded Fire Theatre.

Images by Alessandra Merlo and Adam Tolbert.

As Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter at Custom Made Theatre.

Images by Jay Yamada.

On set for ‘Love at The Frankfurt Auto-show’. Written and directed by long time collaborator Than Hussein Clark.

Dernier Cri-Third Cloud From The Left.

Image-Garaaj Gooch.

Sordid Lives at New Conservatory Theatre.

Image by Lois Tema.

Standing up to my standee. Sordid Lives, NCTC.

Brooch I found at La Comédie Française, Paris.

Here is a selection of images from my work over the last year:

Gesture work for ‘Said The Assassination’

As Janet Grey in ‘Said The Assassination’- by Than Hussein Clark, Silencio, Paris.

As Voltaire in ‘Emilie’ by Lauren Gunderson at RVP

‘Paradise Street’ by Clive Barker.

Well, well. Since last I posted about M.I.T., I have been involved in some fantastic projects: I played Jude, in Clive Barker’s ‘Paradise Street’, (US Premier) directed by Stuart Bousel in December. Then I was Voltaire in Lauren Gunderson’s ‘Émilie du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight’ directed by Patricia Miller. Next was a devised play ‘Said The Assasinations’ a work in response to the refugee crisis by Than Hussein Clark, performed in David Lynch’s Silencio in Paris. Then I returned to the Bay Area and straight into ‘Sordid Lives’ by Del Shores, directed by Dennis Lickteig at NCTC. (Running through June 24th).

 

 

I have some very exciting projects in the pipeline, so check back for that news soon!

 

‘Theater or Cruelty (Cometh, Cometh, Cometh)’ (2016) presents a modular stage that is, in part, imagined to be the workers’ cantina at a fictional factory that produces the tragedy machine.The exhibition also serves as the premiere of This Is It or Dawn at Bar Bazuhka (2016), the group’s most recent theatrical production, an adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s play The Iceman Cometh (1939), transposing the story from New York’s Greenwich Village to a gay nightclub on the Greek Island of Skiathos.’-Villa Design Group

My most recent project was another brand new work by Than Hussein Clark and Villa Design Group. We performed at the List Centre for Visual Arts at MIT in Boston. This marked Villa Design Group’s first institutional show in the US. With a cast of eight actors from across the globe, we spent two weeks devising and rehearsing in New Hampshire. The resulting performance was a wild and rich play with influences from Eugene O’Neill’s ‘The Iceman Cometh‘ and Czech writer Karel Čapek’s 1920’s Sci-Fi play ‘R.U.R.’ We also performed four original songs, karaoke-style in the manner of a Greek Chorus. Needless to say it was a challenging, fantastic experience.

“If a machine could write dramas, what would they be? This is the idea that London-based artist collective Villa Design Group explores with The Tragedy Machine, their waggish, new exhibition at the MIT List Visual Arts Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Spawned from a sci-fi worthy premise, the exhibition-meets-theatrical production springs out of the group’s reaction to their stridently academic venue”- Vice.com The Creators Project

Stay tuned for information on my next project ‘Paradise Street’. Directed by Stuart Bousel, this US premier by horror writer Clive Barker promises to be worth attending.